Little Boys
by The Lady Avaritia
Summary: Fred and George, Gred and Forge. Sometimes he though he might forget who he is.


**Title:** Little Boys

**Rating: T**  
><strong>Spoilers: G<strong>eneral

**Characters**: Fred

**Summary: Fred and George, Gred and Forge. Sometimes he though he might forget who he is. **

**Disclaimer: **disclaimed

**Author: **_Lady Avaritia_

**This is written for the Early Childhood Competition on the Harry Potter Challenges Forum.**

**Child: Fred Weasley**

A six year old Fred Weasley was perched on one of the high backed wooden stools in the kitchen of the Burrow, observing with wide curious eyes as his mother cooked lunch.

'Hey mum,' he said suddenly.

'Yes, George dear, what is it?'

'I'm Fred, mum.'

'Oh, of course, darling! Silly me!'

'Mum, how do you know who you are?'

'What are you talking about, dear?'

'What if… what if you're not sure if you are who you are, but are someone else, or becoming someone else?' the boy explained in a rush.

'Oh, sweetie! You're too young to trouble yourself with such complicated thoughts. You are who you are, because your thoughts make you you, do you understand? There is no way to become someone else! What a preposterous notion! Now off you go, George, I have to cook!'

'I'm Fred,' he grumbled, as he dragged his feet through the garden.

Well then, if his mother didn't have the answer, he knew someone who certainly would.

The boy walked into his father's barrack, only to be assaulted by a flying rubber thing his father called a "tire" .

'Hey dad?'

'Yes, George?'

'I'm Fred!'

'Oh, yes. Certainly,' Arthur muttered distractedly as he moved around the blue car he was trying to take apart.

'How do you know if you're becoming someone else?' the boy asked cautiously.

'I guess if you're becoming someone else, you'll know it because you'll be changing and acting like them, liking what they like…' his father said doubtfully.

'What if you already are? Like them, I mean.'

'Then it shouldn't matter if you're "becoming" them, don't you think?'

'But what if you want to be _you_, and not _them_?'

'Oh, dear!' Arthur gasped, as the engine of the car shot steam in his face. He leaned down to inspect what had caused the event. After fifteen minutes of silence, Fred left, his grumpy mood not one ounce fixed. Weren't parents supposed to know everything? And weren't parents supposed to understand you?

Never mind. He'll just have to wait for Bill and Charlie to come for Yule. Surely, they'll have an answer? They were Hogwarts students and all, right? So they had all fancy books and talked to all kinds of teachers, so they probably knew how to help him in this predicament.

The weeks till Yuletide came and went like a blur and suddenly Charlie and Bill were both home and Fred would just have to wait for an opportune moment to ask them.

On the last night of their holiday, before they had to leave for school in the morning, he went to the room the two older boys shared. He knocked politely on the door, and waited until Bill opened.

'Oh,' his brother said surprised. 'What are you doing here, little brother. And where's Fred? Aren't you always together?'

'I'm Fred.'

'Then where's George? You're like the same person,' Charlie called from his bed, unintentionally hitting home.

'That's what I came here for, actually,' the boy said a bit uncertainly. 'Can I come in?'

'Uh, yeah, sure, go on ahead.' Bill moved so his little brother could walk in. Fred stood silent for a while, looking ahead of him.

'I was wondering, since you guys go to Hogwarts and study and all,' he began doubtfully, 'do you know of a way to find with complete certainty whether someone is becoming someone else?'

'Uh, what?' Charlie asked intelligently, while Bill's expression clearly mirrored the words.

'Like, if you feel that maybe you're not quite yourself, yet you're not sure who _you _are because you're so much like that other person, but you're not quite them either, and you're kinda getting lost?'

Charlie looked thoughtful for moment.

'Look, little brother, it's quite late in the evening, but how about we do some research at Hogwarts, and I'll write you an owl. I think it will be more helpful that way, huh? And you can ask Mum to read it to you.'

'Okay… I guess,' Fred said unconvinced as he walked out.

Needless to say, after three weeks he realized his brothers had forgotten the owl. But he still had one last option, didn't he?

Percy was, by Fred's meager standards, one of the smartest and most studyfull people in the Burrow, who was available at any time. Usually, the boy's uptight attitude made him the target for his pranks with George, but right now Fred was going towards his youngest older brother alone. If Percy didn't know, then who would? He'd asked everyone already.

'Percy?' he said tentatively.

'What George?' the other boy snapped.

'I'm Fred.'

'Whatever,' Percy said harshly and returned to his book.

'I have a question,' Fred declared loudly. Percy looked at him again, sharply, and Fred could feel his confidence diminishing a little. Suddenly their two year age difference seemed like the largest gap in the world.

'How,' he gulped, 'How do you know if you're becoming someone you're not?'

'What? What a pointless question to ask!' Percy declared. 'You can't become someone else. That's physically impossible unless you're taking Polyjuice potion and that only has a temporary effect.'

'Big headed twit,' Fred muttered. He had no idea what it meant, but Charlie had said it about his pen-pal from Brazil and it had sounded cool.

He walked out into the garden, and sat heavily on the grass, watching a garden gnome gnaw at a piece of his father's muggle junk.

'Freddie!' he turned around to face himself… or more like, the boy with his face, George.

'Hey George.'

'What are you doing all by yourself?'

'Percy is a big headed twit.'

'Yup. Do you want to drop a garden gnome in his underwear drawer?'

'No,' Fred sighed.

'Hey, Freddie, what's wrong? You've been awful quiet these last few weeks. Is there a problem?'

'I'm just very… confused.' Fred admitted, spreading his hands in the air.

'Bout what?'

'Me, I guess. And you. Don't you feel like… maybe we're too much each other and not enough ourselves? Like… like we're merging, or something?'

'What are you talking about, silly? Of course not! We're own people.'

'Oh,' Fred smiled, relief flooding him at thought that he was, in fact himself and not George.

'But we're our own people together, right?' he asked after a while.

'Course we are, Freddie.'

'Okay. Let's go throw a gnome in Percy's underwear drawer.'

'I swear, you read my mind.'

'It was your idea a few minutes ago.'

'Oh! Right!'


End file.
